Czech police collecting evidence on three war criminals

Czech police are collecting evidence about at least three criminals from World War Two who still live and stay in Germany, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes. These are the former SS officer Walter Hauck, former Hitler- Youth member Rudolf Malik and Hildegarde Mende, who worked as a guard in the Terezin (Theresienstadt) ghetto, MfD writes. According to MfD, Hauck is responsible for the massacre in the village of Leskovice in the South Bohemian region of Pelhrimov in May 1945. At that time, Nazis killed 26 people, including a 13-year-old boy and burned down 31 houses. "We have checked that Hauck is still alive," regional state attorney Petr Dusek told the daily. According to witnesses, when he was 17, Malik shot dead at least two people in a massacre in Velke Mezirici, South Bohemia, in May 1945. At that time, over 50 civilians lost their lives, MfD writes.